


Triwizard Tournament troubles – or the one where Snape finally gets his head out of his arse and adopts Harry because of reasons

by chim01



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Blood and Injury, Eventual Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Gen, Hermione Granger Bashing, Minor Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Ron Weasley Bashing, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, not bad read the notes if you want to know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 07:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20738378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chim01/pseuds/chim01
Summary: Everyone abandons Harry after his name is pulled out of the Goblet of Fire and he feels very alone and gets distracted during potions. Of course he gets a detention and a small accident reveals more than Harry could've imagined. The way Snape and Harry see each other changes quite drastically which eventually results in Snape adopting Harry!





	Triwizard Tournament troubles – or the one where Snape finally gets his head out of his arse and adopts Harry because of reasons

Harry had never fully understood why his aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon did not seem to care about him. He could understand that they were not overly fond of his parents, but what did that have to do with him? For the longest time, he did not understand why they could not treat him at least civilly. He still doesn’t really. 

When his Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived, Harry thought it would be his ticket to a new life. Of course, it partly was. Harry’s wish of also finding someone, or multiple people, who would care for him in the way he cared about others did not come true, however. His “family” had tried so hard to beat Harry’s caring nature out of him, but they had luckily not succeeded. It did hurt though, to always be the one caring about others without receiving the same affection in return. 

You see, his new life at Hogwarts turned out not to include people who cared about him unconditionally. The people Harry had called his friends, abandoned him the moment his name was read aloud by Dumbledore after falling out of the Goblet of Fire. 

How could Ron and Hermione – and his entire house even – suspect him of putting in his own name? That other houses would suspect, Harry could kind of understand. After all, they did not know him personally the way his (former) best friends did; but Ron and Hermione? He just could not wrap his head around their abandonment of him. Harry would never purposefully pursue supposed “fame” and he would definitely not place himself in a position of imminent danger. 

The only small beacon of light in this entire mess had been Snape, oddly enough. 

The professor was the only one in the entire school, perhaps the entire wizarding world, who still treated him the way he always had. It wasn’t exactly a nice treatment, but at least it was familiar. Snape also didn’t use Harry’s participation in the Triwizard Tournament as an extra form of inspiration when it came to his insults. 

“Mr potter! If you are still with us, might we continue this lesson now?” 

Harry startled and quickly looked up at where his professor stood. Several new steps had appeared on the board behind Snape and everyone but him had continued brewing their potions – though they were now all starting at him as Harry had been the only one not to have continued brewing his potion.   
“Yes, professor! I’m sorry!” 

Harry looked at the desk next to him as he usually did when Snape had called him out, but instead of the sympathetic eyes of his friends he now saw a glare directed his way by both Hermione and Ron. 

Even though his Ron and Hermione had been standoffish for a while now, it still surprised Harry to see his former friends looking at him like that. After three years of friendship, how could they just discard him like that over something that wasn’t even his fault? Why could they not just believe him? 

Harry’s attention was refocused on the front of the class as Snape continued talking. 

“Very well. Although I believe detention is in order for this gross misconduct. You should be aware by now how important it is to pay attention during practical lessons! The danger of even a minor misstep could be immense!”

The professor took a quick breath before continuing without outright yelling at Harry. A sneer was still fixed quite immovably on his face, however. 

“Right after dinner tonight would be as good a time as ever. Don’t you agree Mr Potter?” 

“Yes sir. Of course.” 

Harry felt absolutely miserable. How pathetic that the one thing he considered to be normal and as a small beacon of light, was the person who had been tormenting him in class since he first stepped foot into the school. 

\---

Harry continued on throughout the day trying to keep his head down and not call any additional attention onto himself. Not that it seemed to be working at all. The entire school had somehow developed a “Harry-radar” and everyone was scowling at him and throwing insults his way. 

Harry hurriedly made his way down into the dungeons after quickly showing some food into his mouth, seeing as the professor had already left the Great Hall and Harry doubted being late would be accepted. The professor had never mentioned a specific time, but Harry was sure that this wouldn’t stop him from being cross with Harry. 

“Enter.” 

Came the reply after Harry had knocked on the Potion’s classroom door. 

“Mr Potter. On time for once I see. Start with cleaning today’s equipment. No magic, as usual, wash them by hand.” 

Harry did not even bother replying but simply made his way over to the pile of dirty cauldrons, vials, and cutting equipment in the corner and quietly got the cleaning supplies ready. 

Properly stuck in his own thoughts of misery, Harry did not even notice that he had cut his hand on one of the sharp knives until he heard Snape’s startled yell. 

“Mr Potter! What do you think you are doing you careless boy?”

Harry’s head whipped around to stare at his professor with big, confused eyes. 

“Sir?” 

Snape made his way towards Harry and he flinched as the professor made a move to grab the injured hand. 

“Have you not even noticed you have just cut yourself? This is the exact reason you are here in the first place! Was I not clear enough during class about the potential dangers of not paying attention when working with potions? This obviously includes used equipment! You should count yourself lucky the knife had already been cleaned or who knows what kinds of ingredient could have found their way into your bloodstream!” 

All Harry could do was stare at his left hand, where there was indeed a cut. Quite a deep cut in fact, looking at the amount of blood that had already gathered in the palm of his hand. 

Snape might have said more, but Harry did not hear anything more. Lost as he was in a memory similar to this situation.

He had been cooking dinner at home in Surrey when he was nine and had accidentally cut his hand while preparing the vegetables. Instead of cleaning and dressing the wound, his aunt had thrown and locked him into his cupboard after hitting him over the head with a frying pan. As a punishment of her having to do the cooking, he would not be getting any meals for the next three days. 

Breathing was suddenly difficult; all the emotional turmoil Harry had felt for weeks now finally catching up to him and it was all too much all at once.   
Harry couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t make his lungs work and that only increased the panic he suddenly felt. All he could do was stare at his left hand, as if with morbid fascination, as the accumulated blood now dripped down his arm towards the floor below. 

*

Severus looked at the panicking teen before him. He had not expected such a severe reaction to a simple cut and was quite unsure what to do. Yes, the cut needed to be properly tended to, but a simple spell would be enough to mend the wound. Why was the boy panicking this much over a simple cut when he had endured worse during quidditch games? 

Severus made a conscious effort to sound less severe and threatening when addressing the boy while also softly placing his hand on the child’s shoulder. 

“Mr Potter? It is quite alright. The cut can be dealt with very easily and will not cause any lasting damage or even a scar at all. There is no need to worry so.” 

The boy continued to panic and seemed to be losing his ability to breathe more and more as time continued on. He did not even flinch at the hand Severus had placed on his bony shoulder. 

Deciding that words wouldn’t breach the boys panicked thoughts, Severus mumbled: “Accio calming draught” and spelled the potion directly into the boy’s stomach. This, luckily, did elicit a response as Harry calmed down almost immediately. Severus quickly mended the wound and cleaned the pool of blood with a swift scourgify. 

Slightly disoriented, the child looked up at him and retreated into himself instantly, flinching and trying to take up as little space as possible. 

“It is quite alright Mr Potter. It seems you were having a panic attack.”

No eye-contact was made, no matter how hard Severus tried to catch Harry’s eye. 

“Have you any previous experience with this type of thing?” 

When the boy still refused to look at him, Severus decided to try a different tactic. 

“I could always refer you to the headmaster if you prefer to talk about this with him, but don’t doubt me when I say that you will talk about it.” 

The boy’s eyes shot up to meet his own at last. 

“No sir! Please don’t! He won’t believe me anyways.”

The last bit was mumbled towards the teen’s shoes as he looked down once again. Severus had heard him loud and clear, though, and he couldn’t help but wonder: had the boy already tried to talk to Albus? He surely would have listened to the “golden boy”. The only time the headmaster had ever ignored a student was when there was talk of familial troubles, what with the headmaster being a firm believer of not disrupting what he thought of “family matters”. 

Was that it then? Was the famous boy-who-lived who Severus had always thought of as spoiled and arrogant not actually that? 

“Mr Potter- Harry, is there anything you wish to discuss regarding your homelife?” 

*

Harry looked up at his professor, taken off guard by Snape’s ability to guess the problem straight away, though his use of Harry’s given name was just as much of a surprise. 

“Sir- I- there’s nothing to say. Really.” 

Snape scrutinised him for a moment before replying. 

“I don’t quite believe you Harry and I think you should tell me about your troubles. I may not have been overly fond of you in the past, but I assure you: I will do my utmost to protect any student. No matter their lineage or their house affiliation.”

Harry looked at Snape, really looked at him. He saw the sincerity in those black eyes and thought about earlier in the day, about how the professor was the only still treating him as he always had. Surely, this must mean that he really was being sincere? 

“I don’t want to be a Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament. My friends have all abandoned me and I don’t have anyone at all to talk to.”

Tears started to silently make their descent down Harry’s cheeks, but he didn’t even notice as he was too relieved – he could finally really talk to someone about his worries that had formed ever since that awful Goblet had spit out his name. it had been so long since anyone had just listened to him!

“I don’t know where to go after this schoolyear has finished, if I even survive this stupid tournament. My aunt and uncle are absolutely horrible and even if I do survive this tournament, that still won’t guarantee my coming back next year if I have to spend another summer in that hell-hole.”

*

Severus guided the shaking and crying boy towards a seat with a hand on his shoulder and sat across from him, listening to the boy emptying his heart from all its worries.

“It just gets worse and worse every year, you know? And I don’t understand how no one has noticed? I mean, I don’t go shouting from the rooftops that I’m getting abused, but- How has no one noticed? I thought at least some people here cared about me?” 

It seemed as if the boy had been crying out for help silently for a long time already. How had Severus not noticed this? Had he let himself be blinded by his hatred for the boy’s father?

Either way, this abuse would not continue. He would make sure the boy was not going back to those repulsive muggles, even if it meant taking the boy in himself. Odd, how a change in perspective could change his feelings towards the boy so quickly and completely. 

It took all Severus’s self-control to keep listening to the boy’s horrible stories without actively lashing out, as lashing out right now would certainly not end well, what with the boy being so distraught already. 

“Harry. Harry it’s alright. Or it’s not, but it will be. I assure you; you will never be going back to those vile muggles even if it means I have to take you in myself.” 

And as it was said, so it was done. The boy broke down completely and threw himself at Severus before the professor knew what was happening. He stiffened on impact before quickly wrapping the shivering boy in his embrace and stroking his hair with his hand. 

“Hush child. It will all be alright, I promise you.”

\---

And so, it happened that Harry came to live at the Potion Master’s humble abode at Spinner’s End. Small though it was, it had greatly improved since Severus himself had spent his childhood in the then dark hole. 

Severus now having adopted Harry, he quickly withdrew the boy from the Triwizard Tournament. The whole idea that magic prevented him from withdrawing was absolutely ludicrous. A parent or caregiver had the ability to object simple as that, especially since the child in question was not of age yet. 

Harry’s life was looking up. he had a nice home to return to in the summers, his adoptive father took care of him and though Severus did not coddle him, he made it very clear that he had come to love Harry as Harry had come to love Severus. 

And even though his former friends had tried to rekindle their friendship, Harry had refused all their attempts. 

He had had quite enough of relationships like that. Harry did not want to have friends who were only there for him on their turns. He wanted loyal and caring friends, people who would stick with him – or at least hear him out – just as Harry would be there for them.

It turned out that Malfoy- Draco, was actually not all that bad. The boy apparently stayed over at Severus’s place in the summer sometimes, which was of course not all that strange when taking into consideration that Severus was his godfather. The two teenagers had come to know each other as they hadn’t had the chance to before. House rivalries coming in the way of what turned out to be a wonderful friendship. 

Severus was not even surprised when the two boys came down one day to shyly admit that they were now not just friends, but boyfriends as well. 

Severus was extremely happy for both his son and his godson and looked back on his decision to adopt Harry as the best decision he had ever made – and probably would ever make – in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> The minor injury is Harry accidentally cutting his hand while cleaning a knife, it's minor and some blood is discussed, but the cut is healed quite quickly!
> 
> Thank you for reading my first fic to be posted on here! I hope you enjoyed it :) (if not, that's alright, but please be kind if you choose to comment)


End file.
